Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115428

Tsu-Yin Wu, PhD and Joanna Bancroft, BSN. School of Nursing, Eastern Michigan University, 328 Marshall, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, 7344872297, tsu-yin.wu@emich.edu

Adolescence is a period of accelerated growth and change, bridging the complex transition from childhood to adulthood. This period offers adolescents an opportunity to begin planning for their futures, and to adopt healthy attitudes about risk behaviors that could continue into adulthood, thus setting the stage for a lifetime of desirable health behaviors. Many adolescents engage in health risk behaviors that are dangerous to themselves and others, with immediate or long-term consequences to their health and well-being. Health risks faced by adolescents present a complex picture which needs to be fully understood, particularly gender differences in the health compromising behaviors that could have harmful effects on these adolescents. The purpose of the current study is to examine the differences of physical activity and other health risk behaviors in middle school students. A total of 674 students were surveyed from three area schools in the Midwestern region of the United States with males and females almost equally distributed. The majority of the students were in the age range of 13 to 14 years. The results showed that males were more likely to be involved in physical fights, to initiate alcohol use and participate in physical activity whereas females were more likely to try to lose weight with unhealthy practices such as fasting and laxatives. Health educators and clinicians are in a prime position to promote adolescent health in the school setting by providing health-related services and interventions to help adolescents to initiate and maintain healthy lifestyles.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify gender differences in health risk behaviors and physical activity in early adolescents,
• Identify strategies for developing intervention to promote healthy lifestyle and prevent risk-taking behaviors.

Keywords: Health Behavior, Health Service

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.